Saturday, April 16, 2011

This morning I received an email from a friend who was furious about a post she saw on FB where someone was telling people to stop giving money to people oversees because there are people in America who need food, heat, assistance. I advised her to pray for God to work in his heart [and in mine because I already begun to hate this unknown person]. She responded that she needed a way to tell him he was wrong. Always happy to give my opinion, I wrote this and sent it to her:

You are wrong.

When someone who lives in a country with so much excess that we literally create ways to spend our money (ie: pet spas, silly bands…the list goes on) can ask others to not send money to countries where so much help is needed, I feel compelled to say something.

Every day 10,000 people die from preventable diseases brought on by poverty. We should be in a state of emergency over this! God doesn’t assess more value to Americans. Think about the hysteria and sadness we feel when even 1 plane with 250 Americans crashes – imagine if 40 planes went down today. That’s how many people will die today of preventable diseases. Then 40 more plans tomorrow..and the next day (Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel). The point is that we tend to see these tragic deaths much differently when they have American faces. Unfortunately, that is racism.

America was founded on the premise of equality (Declaration of Independence)– yet then I see posts like this that suggest that we should be “taking care of our own”. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important for people to have heat, but even America’s poor are considered rich by the world’s standard. When I was in Ethiopia last month, I saw countless families sleeping under tarps on the side of the road keeping their children warm by burning fires.

I would invite you to try to view the world through God’s eyes – where every human being is loved and matters deeply. Consider that He has blessed us financially so that we can take joy in giving to others. Luke12:48 says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked”. I believe God is asking us to give freely and lovingly to our neighbors here and throughout the world.

You see, Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice. It makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties. It doubts our concern. It questions our commitment. Because there is no way we can look at what's happening in Africa, and if we're honest, conclude that it would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else. -Bono

Friday, April 15, 2011

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Every time I send an email to B I try to delete my "blog signature" - "the5moores.blogspot.com". Not because he can check it, because he can't (Blogger is blocked in Ethiopia). It's the name. We're not the 5 Moores anymore. We are 6 and by all accounts he's #6. The 5 Moores is terribly out of date and sadly noninclusive. >The problem is that I often forget to remove it. The bigger problem is that I need to re-name our blog. The even bigger problem is that I don't know what to name it....and renaming it is kind of a big deal because all the blogs that link to my blog will need to be updated by their respective blog owners....and that's kind of asking a lot of people. I like "Moore to Love" - but it's taken. It's taken by another blogger and also the .com is taken. Another option is "Many Moores" - is also taken - by some non-blogger. The 6 Moores is taken by a family who considers their pets part of their 6 (cheaters). [sigh] I could just go with my name....but I don't love that. So I'm stuck. Paralyzed. >If you've been reading this blog for a while you know I'm really reallyreally bad with making "decisions of commitment". Changing the blog name is a big commitment and there are no names that I love. >What to do. Any suggestions? Free my from my paralytic state!

Sunday, April 03, 2011

For the record, this wasn't my idea. However...when I picked him up from his friend's house, he inquired about getting his hair cut. That was my big break - and I knew it.Unfortunately it was after 6p on a Sunday night and there were no professionals open for business...

....so I offered my services...

..and he said yes.

Dirt was at men's bible study, so I couldn't be stopped! I sharpened my scissors and started snipping before he changed his mind.

...but then something strange happened...

...he asked for more to be cut off - he wanted it short, not "shorter". He urged me to take out the clippers!

I was tempted, but I knew I could hide my poor skills in 3 inches of curl, but a clipper cut shows all....and though he repeatedly asked me to give him smooth number 4 - I denied. I told him we could follow up with a real barber tomorrow.

...but then he puppy-eyed me, so in my moment of weakness I pulled out Dirt's trimmer. I fumbled with the attachments and made him promise not to hate me if I messed up. He did.

I ran the clippers along the side of his head and nothing happened. Then I decided it might be better if I started with the back. I ran the clipper up the back of his neck and noticed A LOT of hair fell off - like more than I wanted. I obviously had no clue what I was doing. I told him we needed to stop before I did any real damage.

When he looked in the mirror, he was pleased with my work and said he might just stay as is.

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Ever since I switched to a part-time schedule I've wanted to try making home-made pretzels. I don't know why, it's just kind of a "thing". Last week we made my dream a reality.

We started with my recipe from my 7th grade Home Economics class:

Maya and I did the mixing and kneading while the kids were in school.

Once the older kids came home, we rolled the dough out and made them into fancy pretzel shapes.

The problem occurred when I referred back to my 25-year old recipe and noticed there was no oven temperature or cooking time listed.

Details.

Nonetheless, they headed into the oven with lots of promise.

But I can't lie - I was a bit disappointed by the end result. I had envisioned golden brown pretzels - like the kind they have in the mall - or on the side of the intersections in North Philly. BUT that's not exactly what we got.